Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 17 (ANI/BusinessWire India): Leading NBFC Fullerton India Credit Company has brought in Diwali a little earlier than anticipated by announcing an exciting festive personal loan deal for online salaried borrowers to celebrate this coming festive season.

New Delhi [India], June 7 (ANI): Election Commission of India (ECI) in its meeting held on Tuesday under the Chairmanship of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar along with EC Anup Chandra Pandey decided to double the remuneration of the polling officials going to the polling Stations three days in advance.

New Delhi Jan 25 PTI Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday said elements trying to discredit the Election Commission EC were actually trying to discredit the democratic process of the country The minister also said the courts have a right to make observations on the Commission but the judges will also have to think about the language being used People who want to challenge democracy have found a way of doing so by challenging the poll panel Rijiju said at a National Voters Day event organised by the EC where Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and Election Commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey were present The minister said the way EC has handled challenges from time to time there is little scope to criticise it There are efforts to discredit the ECs efforts those elements which are trying to discredit EC are actually trying to discredit the democratic process of our country he said He however did not name the elements he was referring to In a democracy people are free to criticise the EC but the criticism should be based on logic he said adding that the language used should be within civic norms He was of the view that while it is easy to pass comments it is difficult to understand the problems and the background in which the poll panel functions Though he did not specify any court observation the poll watchdog had faced criticism from courts for the assembly polls held last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic If the courts says on EC it can Courts have a right But the judges will have to think about what language they are using Under what circumstances EC is working has to be understood he said Addressing the gathering Rijiju said behind the ECs success is the contribution of political parties and the citizens He noted that while the poll panel has faced criticism it has also received appreciation from people Referring to the recent passage of a bill on electoral reforms the minister said due to ruckus in the House he felt handicapped as he could not explain in detail the reforms being ushered in He said people should know the reforms were a result of the efforts put in by the EC and Legislative Department in the Law Ministry and informed that more electoral reforms could be coming in the future The minister said he would have been happy if he had been able to speak in Parliament for a few more minutes to explain the reforms Linking of Aadhaar with electoral rolls to weed out duplicate entries increasing from one to four the dates on which an 18-year-old can register as a voter in a year and making election law gender-neutral for service voters were part of the bill The new provisions are yet to come in force It will happen once the EC and the Law Ministry decide on the date of implementing it Legislative Department is the nodal agency to deal with issues related to the EC The minister said while the government does not believe in interfering with the functioning of independent organs there is a need to have constant coordination to push things PTI NAB RT

New Delhi Jan 23 PTI The Election Commissions ban on physical rallies in five poll-bound states since January 8 due to the ongoing COVID-19 wave has hit the business of charter flight operators Just 10-15 per cent of the 350-400 flight hours per month are election-related travel at this stage the operators saidElection travel has not really picked up It had started to pick up initially around mid-December but then the EC announced the ban on rallies so that completely stopped most of the election-related travel Rajan Mehra CEO Club One Air told PTI Election travel is very limited added Mehra former India head of Qatar AirwaysKanika Tekriwal CEO and Founder JetSetGo Aviation told PTI that as there is a ban on rallies due to COVID-19 the company has seen only 70 per cent of inquiries for election-related travel this year as compared to last yearHowever no inquiry has been actually converted in actual flights as of yet and their conversion is in process she addedSince ban on physical rallies have been extended we dont see much flights happening for elections this time for rallies Tekriwal notedJetSetGo Aviation and Club One Air have a fleet of 18 and 10 aircraft respectively to operate charter flightsAnnouncing the dates for elections in Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand Goa Punjab and Manipur on January 8 the poll panel had announced a ban on physical rallies roadshows and bike rallies and similar campaign events till January 15On January 15 the commission extended the ban until January 22 On Saturday this was extended to January 31While election-related travel is not picking up for charter companies the overall scenario for business aviation charter flight operations has been very good Mehra stated Right after the first COVID-19 wave safety has become an issue of paramount importance beyond luxury or anything else he mentionedThere has been a regularity of travel in private jets So before COVID-19 if we would on an average see around 150-200 flying hours per month that has gone to up to 350-400 flight hours per month he statedIt might pick up once the EC announces removing the ban on rallies but right now it is 10-15 per cent for most operators he mentionedLast year in the election season approximately 30-40 per cent of the travel was for election rallies he statedTekriwal said JetSetGo Aviation used to achieve its major numbers from business travel before the pandemicHowever leisure travel brings the major share of business right nowWe have received a positive response from our customers towards our Fly Safe commitment to maintaining the COVID-19 protocol standards and experiencing a sharp increase in leisure travel bookings which is continuing now also she Our business travel requests have started showing positive redemptions which are slowly getting back to usual she noted PTI DSP DV DV

New Delhi Jan 19 PTI The Delhi government signed an agreement with the CESL on Wednesday for installation of charging and battery swapping stations for electric two three and four wheelers at cluster bus depots of its Transport Department Each charging and batter swapping facilities ill be installed at 14 locations Each will include six charging points three of which will be for two and three wheelers while three points will be meant for four-wheelers he said Under the Memorandum of Understanding MoU signed by the Transport department the Convergence Energy Services Limited CESL has agreed to procure install operate and maintain charging units and related infrastructure at its cost and expense said a Transport department statement The charges for usage of location will be paid by CESL to Delhi Transport Corporation DTC every month at the rate of one rupee per kWh of energy dispensed it said If the space required by the concessionaire is more than 3 ECS Equivalent Car Space then Rs 2000 extra would be levied per ECS per month Initially the contract period is of 10 years it said According to the MoU the CESL will start the work immediately and will finish the installation of all stations in the next four months The location assessment survey at various DTC cluster bus depots at Rani Khera-I Rani Khera-II Rani Khera-III Rajghat Dilshad Garden Seema Puri Bawana Sec-1 Bawana Sec-5 Kanjhawala Kair Dichaon Kalan Dwarka Sec-22 Rewla Khanpur and Chhatarpur have been identified jointly by the department and EESL for setting up of the facility The real-time status and availability of charging points will also be available on the ONE DELHI app once installation work is complete The CESL will also reduce carbon footprint and wherever feasible will integrate solar rooftop and Battery Storage systems BSS with the installation of charging infrastructure to use renewable energy to power the charging stations the statement added PTI VIT CK

Washington [US], December 29 (ANI): A new Congressional Research Service report in the US has revealed a number of Chinese activities and said the recently imposed arbitrary law by Beijing is a matter of concern as it aims to dominate in East Asia particularly in the South China Sea and the East China Sea.

New Delhi Dec 21 PTI A Bill to link electoral roll data with the Aadhaar ecosystem was passed by Parliament on Tuesday with the Rajya Sabha approving it amid a walkout by the Opposition and high drama when Derek OBrien flung a rulebook at the reporters table after which the TMC MP was suspended from the House for unruly behaviour Rejecting the opposition criticism of the Election Laws Amendment Bill 2021 that seeks to weed out fake voters from electoral rolls Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said in our democracy the electoral process should be cleansed and that can happen only if the electoral rolls are clean The bill which was approved by voice vote was cleared by the Lok Sabha on Monday Calling the Electoral reforms bill as very good and a revolutionary step Rijiju also said the linking of electoral rolls to the Aadhaar number is only voluntary and not compulsory adding it will help end fake and bogus voting and make the electoral process credible Sources in the government meanwhile said the move would solve a major problem of multiple enrolment of a person at different places and help in cleaning the voters list to a great extent The government sources said the Bill incorporates various electoral reforms which have been discussed for a long time and shared a 2018 statement of the Election CommissionEC following a meeting of all recognised national and regional parties on various electoral reforms Political parties urged the commission to link Aadhaar numbers with electors detail for better electoral roll management the EC had said The Bill seeks to allow electoral registration officers to seek Aadhaar number of people who want to register as voters for the purpose of establishing the identity At the same time the amendment bill makes it clear that no application for inclusion of name in the electoral roll shall be denied and no entries in the electoral roll shall be deleted for inability of an individual to furnish or intimate Aadhaar number due to such sufficient cause as may be prescribed The Bill was passed after an hour-long discussion with members of several parties supporting the bill though some concerns were voiced Members of the BJP JDU YSRCP AIADMK BJD TDP and TMC-M said it will help in eradicating duplicate and fake voters from electoral rolls and termed it as a far-reaching electoral reform The discussion continued amid protests by opposition members who were in the well throughout raising slogans They later staged a walkout as their demand for sending the Bill to a Select Committee was rejected Members of the Congress TMC CPI-M CPI DMK RJD Samajwadi PartySP AAP and NCP walked out from the House in protest They earlier opposed the Bill saying it infringes on voters right to privacy and goes against the Supreme Court judgement This Bill will be opposed only by those who take advantage of fake voting Otherwise there is no basis for opposing this Bill Rijiju said adding that new and genuine voters will never forgive them for doing so The country has understood the necessity of this electoral reform Bill he said The opposition parties demanded a division of votes as they had moved a motion to send the Bill to a select committee which was rejected by voice vote OBrien cited rules for a division of votes even as Deputy Chairman Harivansh urged members to go to their seats to enable this process However opposition members continued to raise slogans in the well of the House we have all the regards for the rules but the same thing you did on the farm laws you are doing today OBrien said as he threw the Rajya Sabha rule book towards the Chair and announced a walkout from the House The book fell on the table where officials sit along with the Secretary General Ruling party members strongly condemned the Trinamool CongressTMC leaders act with Leader of the House Piyush Goyal saying it is not only an insult of the chair or the secretary general or the table or the House but an insult to the entire country OBrien was later suspended for the remainder of the Winter session for his unruly behaviour after a motion by the government in this regard was passed unanimously Parliament is due to adjourn on Thursday The bill was subsequently passed with a voice vote Later Sasmit Patra who was in the Chair said Honourable members I would like to invite the attention of all of you to the gross misconduct of TMC floor leader Derek OBrien in this august House a little earlier Derek OBrien raised some point of order to which honourable deputy chairman has duly responded A little later Derek OBrien flung the rule book furiously in the direction of the Chair The rule book would have hit the chair or secretary general or officials sitting at the table Patra said He further said the TMC leader has resorted to grave misconduct and gross violation of the rules of the House and norms of etiquette and conduct Being a floor leader Derek OBrien instead of setting high standards of conduct in the House set a bad example and in the process denigrated the dignity and stature of this august House This act of Derek OBrien is highly condemnable Patra added Soon after Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan moved a motion seeking OBriens suspension from the House for the remainder of the Winter session for his unruly and contemptuous behaviour unbecoming of a member of Rajya Sabha by brazenly throwing the Rajya Sabha rule book towards the Chair during the discussion thereby bringing disrepute and shame to this august House The motion was put to vote and approved by the House through voice vote Opposition parties were not present during the vote as they had staged a walkout earlier The motion is adopted Derek OBrien therefore stands suspended from the remaining part of the current session Patra announced Earlier Anand Sharma and OBrien alleged that the bill was being brought in haste and in an undemocratic manner Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and CPI-M member John Brittas demanded division on the motion to send the bill to the Select Committee and said not allowing it was against the rules Dismissing apprehensions of the opposition on the Bill as baseless Rijiju said they were misinterpreting the Supreme Courts judgement on personal liberty There is no basis of your opposition to the Bill The Election Commission and the government have held many meetings and the ECs biggest concern is that the same person has his or her name in multiple electoral rolls and there is no other system to check this He also said any Indian above 18 years can get hisher name included in the voters list and they will get four occasions in a year to register themselves with the ECPTI SKC MSS MJH MBI NKD ASK KR CS GSN GSN GSN

New Delhi [India], December 18 (ANI): The Law Ministry clarified on Saturday that a separate informal interaction was held virtually with the Chief Election Commissioner and the two Election Commissioners on certain issues "requiring further finetuning" and a letter sent by Legislative Department regarding a meeting on common electoral roll on November 16 was "for Secretary or a representative of the CEC".

New Delhi Dec 17 PTI Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and fellow Commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anoop Chandra Pandey recently held an informal interaction with the Prime Ministers Office to bridge gaps in understanding of key electoral reforms between the poll panel and the Law Ministry with EC sources insisting on Friday that no impropriety was involved in doing soThe commission had been pushing for reforms in electoral laws and related issues and the virtual interaction in November was held to bridge the gaps in understanding the points of views of the Law Ministry and the Election Commission EC they saidReacting to the development the opposition on Friday hit out at the government alleging that it was treating the EC as its subservient toolCongress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala charged that the government has fallen to a new low in destroying institutions in the countryCat is out of the bag What was whispered till now is a fact PMO summoning ECI was unheard of in independent India Treating EC as a subservient tool is yet another low in Modi governments record of destroying every institution Surjewala saidThe EC sources said amid a series of correspondence between the government and the poll panel on electoral reforms the Prime Ministers Office PMO took the lead in organising the informal interaction with the three commissionersResponding to a news report published on Friday that the Law Ministry had sent a letter to the EC saying that the principal secretary to the prime minister will chair a meeting on common electoral roll and expects the CEC to be present the sources said the three commissioners did not attend that formal meetingResponding to the news report former chief election commissioner CEC S Y Quraishi said it was absolutely shocking When asked to explain his remarks he said his words have summed up everythingThe sources said senior EC officials attended the formal meeting besides officials from the Law MinistryThe Legislative Department in the Law Ministry is the nodal agency for EC-related mattersThe sources said the result of the informal interaction with the PMO resulted in the Union Cabinet on Wednesday clearing various electoral reforms that the EC had been insisting be brought in the ongoing Winter Session of ParliamentOne of the reforms is linking Aadhaar with electoral rolls on a voluntary basis The other will allow eligible young people to register as voters on four dates every year As of now there is one qualifying date -- January 1 of every year -- to register as a voter for those who have turned 18 or above on January 1The sources pointed out that crucial electoral reforms have been pending for the last 25 yearsThe EC had been writing to the government for pushing reforms and the Law Ministry had been seeking clarificationsThe informal interaction the sources said helped bridge the gaps in understanding on key issues Reforms have to be done like that a senior EC functionary saidThere is no impropriety in pushing for reforms the sources assertedThey reminded that CECs have written letters to law ministers including Ravi Shankar Prasad and incumbent Kiren Rijiju seeking their help in implementing electoral reformsUsually law ministers and legislative secretaries have been meeting the commissioners on various issues at the Nirvachan Sadan The commissioners never call on the ministers as part of protocol since the EC is an independent Constitutional bodyCongress leader Manish Tewari on Friday submitted a notice to move an adjournment motion in Lok Sabha on the summoning of the EC for a meeting in the PMO to discuss electoral reformsIn the notice he raised questions on the autonomy of the poll panel but Lok Sabha was adjourned amid uproar over the Lakhimpur Kheri violence The former information and broadcasting minister said he will submit the notice to move the adjournment motion again on MondayWhy was the Election Commission summoned summarily and whether it is a fact that the commission took umbrage to the manner in which they were virtually compelled to attend the meeting in the Prime Ministers Office Tewari saidSummoning of a constitutional authority such as the EC shows the hegemonical attitude of the government and this is undemocratic DMK leader TR Baalu said PTI NAB SKU SKC ANB ANB

New Delhi Dec 17 PTI Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and fellow Commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anoop Chandra Pandey recently held an informal interaction with the Prime Ministers Office to bridge gaps in understanding of key electoral reforms between the poll panel and the Law Ministry with EC sources insisting on Friday that no impropriety was involved in doing soThe commission had been pushing for reforms in electoral laws and related issues and the virtual interaction in November was held to bridge the gaps in understanding the points of views of the Law Ministry and the Election Commission EC they saidReacting to the development the Congress on Friday hit out at the government alleging that it was treating the EC as its subservient toolCongress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala charged that the government has fallen to a new low in destroying institutions in the countryCat is out of the bag What was whispered till now is a fact PMO summoning ECI was unheard of in independent India Treating EC as a subservient tool is yet another low in Modi governments record of destroying every institution Surjewala saidThe EC sources said amid a series of correspondence between the government and the poll panel on electoral reforms the Prime Ministers Office PMO took the lead in organising the informal interaction with the three commissionersResponding to a news report published on Friday that the Law Ministry had sent a letter to the EC saying that the principal secretary to the prime minister will chair a meeting on common electoral roll and expects the CEC to be present the sources said the three commissioners did not attend that formal meetingResponding to the news report former chief election commissioner CEC S Y Quraishi said it was absolutely shocking When asked to explain his remarks he said his words have summed up everythingThe sources said senior EC officials attended the formal meeting besides officials from the Law MinistryThe Legislative Department in the Law Ministry is the nodal agency for EC-related mattersThe sources said the result of the informal interaction with the PMO resulted in the Union Cabinet on Wednesday clearing various electoral reforms that the EC had been insisting be brought in the ongoing Winter Session of ParliamentOne of the reforms is linking Aadhaar with electoral rolls on a voluntary basis The other will allow eligible young people to register as voters on four dates every year As of now there is one qualifying date -- January 1 of every year -- to register as a voter for those who have turned 18 or above on January 1The sources pointed out that crucial electoral reforms have been pending for the last 25 yearsThe EC had been writing to the government for pushing reforms and the Law Ministry had been seeking clarificationsThe informal interaction the sources said helped bridge the gaps in understanding on key issues Reforms have to be done like that a senior EC functionary saidThere is no impropriety in pushing for reforms the sources assertedThey reminded that CECs have written letters to law ministers including Ravi Shankar Prasad and incumbent Kiren Rijiju seeking their help in implementing electoral reformsUsually law ministers and legislative secretaries have been meeting the commissioners on various issues at the Nirvachan Sadan The commissioners never call on the ministers as part of protocol since the EC is an independent Constitutional bodyCongress leader Manish Tewari on Friday submitted a notice to move an adjournment motion in Lok Sabha on the summoning of the EC for a meeting in the PMO to discuss electoral reformsIn the notice he raised questions on the autonomy of the poll panel but Lok Sabha was adjourned amid uproar over the Lakhimpur Kheri violence The former information and broadcasting minister said he will submit the notice to move the adjournment motion again on MondayWhy was the Election Commission summoned summarily and whether it is a fact that the commission took umbrage to the manner in which they were virtually compelled to attend the meeting in the Prime Ministers Office Tewari said PTI NAB SKU SKC NAB ANB ANB